User blog:AustinDR/Lord Commander (EP)
A preview of what I will be discussing for May 21st on the cleanup forum regarding Final Space. WIP. What is the work? Final Space is a 2018 animated television series created by Olan Rogers. The series concerns the misadventures of a young man named Gary Goodspeed who was sentenced to five years in a prison ship after he had impersonated an Infinity Guard (a member of an intergalactic organization) in order to impress a young woman named Quinn Airgone. The prison ship Gary is sentenced to is dubbed the Galaxy One, which is managed by an artificial intelligence called HUE. While living out his sentence, Gary discovers a bulbous alien and names it Mooncake. Except this cute little blob is actually a planet destroyer. Along the way, Gary meets different people such as Avocato, a humanoid cat alien among others. When a tyrannical force arises to harness the power within Mooncake, Gary rises to the occasion to save not just the Earth, but also the universe. Who is he? Not much is known about the Lord Commander before he became a tyrant. What is known is that he was once a member of the Infinity Guard named Jack and served as the co-pilot and best friend to Gary’s father --John Goodspeed-- having worked under him for 29 years. On one eventful day, John leaves Gary because he had a mission regarding a gravitational disturbance. John’s father ends up dying, and the resounding explosion causes a wave of energy from Final Space to hit Jack, granting him telekinetic abilities. From that day onward, the old Jack died in the explosion, becoming known simply as the Lord Commander. What has he done? Let’s start chronologically. The Lord Commander gathered his top lieutenants one day and demanded that they kill their firstborn as a display of loyalty to him. While most of the lieutenants obeyed, Avocato refused to follow through and tries to kill the Lord Commander. Enraged by his insolence, the Lord Commander takes his son hostage. Sometime afterward, a ship named the Scarlet Lance discover a gelatinous alien lifeform and name it Specimen E35-1. However, the ship's transmission is interrupted by the Lord Commander and his fleets, ending with the Lord Commander massacring the crew. Plot wise, the Lord Commander makes his debut in Chapter One when he interrogates a man, believing that he has some information on Specimen E35-1 (having since been named Mooncake by Gary). When the man failed to provide him with the information he was looking for, the Lord Commander uses his telekinetic powers to painfully contort the man’s body before breaking his neck whilst claiming that it would be rude to kill him. He then allows one of his minions to eat the corpse. In Chapter 2, the Lord Commander lures Avocato into a trap and rips Gary's arm off using his telekinetic powers. As for episode 3, the Lord Commander goes to a group of aliens called the "Order of the Twelve" for assistance on finding Mooncake. When one of the representatives - Helper Hula - insists that he remain patient, the Lord Commander uses his powers on him, destroying his eight eyes. The Galaxy One traces the gravitational disturbance to a bioluminescent planet. The Lord Commander is revealed to have manipulated a large section of the Infinity Guard towards his side and he had created a laser machine in the hopes of widening the breach to Final Space. The Lord Commander also disguised himself as some mysterious helper, deceiving Little Cato into sending his father a message as a part of a large gambit. The Galaxy One receives the message immediately afterward, and Gary agrees to accompany Avocato to a prison planet named Zetakron Alpha. The two friends face the Lord Commander who reveals that he had overwritten Little Cato’s mind and forces the possessed Little Cato to murder his father. As for Gary, the Lord Commander uses his telekinesis to read Gary’s mind knowing Gary would refuse to cooperate. In an act of spite, the Lord Commander telepathically plants a sticky bomb on Little Cato’s back. Avocato notices the bomb and throws himself onto it, killing him (Avocato, NO!!!). In Chapter 7, a future version of Quinn - designated as "Nightfall-", reveals that eldritch abominations called the Titans inhabit Final Space and that in every timeline she traveled to, the result of their unleashing is consistent: Gary dies trying to fight the Lord Commander; Mooncake - in grief - goes on a revenge-fuelled rampage which subsequently leads to Mooncake unwittingly creating a portal in space-time, thus causing the Titans to get freed. Galaxy One arrives to Earth in Chapter 9 to find the anti-matter bomb, however because the breach was absorbing the Earth, they had little time to retrieve it. The Lord Commander sends them a transmission offering to let the team live if they were to hand over Mooncake to him. Naturally, the team refuse, so leads to the final confrontation. In Chapter 10, the Lord Commander makes it his goal of preventing the Galaxy One from sealing the breach to Final Space as he believed that he was chosen by the Titans to release them so that he could become a Titan himself. The Lord Commander puts Mooncake into a painful laser machine, and successfully creates a portal to Final Space. A Titan’s hand emerges from the portal, but instead of granting him the godhood he expected, the Titan grabs the Earth and pulls it into the portal. Quinn succeeds at detonating the anti-matter bomb, but at the cost of her getting absorbed into the portal rendering no foreseeable ways of her returning. The Lord Commander is last seen edging closer to death, enraged that his feeble attempt at immortality failed. Mitigating factors? Freudian Excuse? Now at first glance, it is easy to disregard the Lord Commander especially when it delves into what little we have of his backstory. He was what you could consider a “Nice Guy” seeming affable enough around John Goodspeed, one time offering to take him out to eat taquitos when they finished their mission. Upon being exposed to the energy wave created from Final Space, it seems pretty evident that this would throw his moral agency into question. However, Chapter 10 clarifies that the Lord Commander believed that he was chosen by the Titans and as such, the Lord Commander actively discarded anything to do with his life prior to requiring this “purpose.” When Gary tried to speak some sense to the tyrant, he enrages the Lord Commander by mentioning his former name, citing the That Man is Dead by claiming that the old Jack died the moment he was chosen by the Titans to release them. In addition, the Lord Commander harbors no affection for John Goodspeed currently. When Gary informs him that he was John’s son, the Lord Commander seems to consider it for a moment, but ultimately decides to kill Gary anyway despite that knowledge. As for any other potential mitigating factors, the Lord Commander is presented as a genuine threat to the universe. The threat of the breach opening is treated with upmost severity, especially when it’s revealed that Titans inhabit Final Space, possessing the power to destroy the universe if they were ever released. Now, the Lord Commander does have some moments that can be humorous. However, rather than detracting from his villainy, they instead accentuate the Lord Commander’s insanity. Beyond that, they’re relatively minor and the Lord Commander returns to being dangerously serious. Heinous standard Oh, yes, absolutely. With the Lord Commander you have the many murders that he had committed, some being downright gruesome. Or then you have moments where the Lord Commander takes the time to slowly mutilate and contort the bodies of his victims for the sake of sadistic gratification. However, what pushes the Lord Commander beyond this is his plan to expand the breach to Final Space which would spell destruction for the universe. The Lord Commander knows about the potential horrors that could be unleashed if his plan were to succeed, but he doesn’t care as long as he achieves his goal of becoming a god. Conclusion In short, I would highly say to definitively keep this little dickhead, but at the same time, I am slightly tempted to say “wait and see” since the Lord Commander didn’t actually die at the end and there is some indication that there could be a second season, but if you really think about it, after everything is said and done, would the writers really try to sympathize the Lord Commander at that point since he basically threw away any potential sympathy by choosing to become who he was? Besides, we have voted some candidates up when their arcs weren’t necessarily finished, and if anything changes over time, his potential writeup can be altered to make adjustments. So ultimately, I would personally say keep the “Fun Sized Devil.” Thoughts? Category:Blog posts